Friday, January 29, 2010

The Textbook Blog

This is the one they'll be studying.

It's been pointed out to me by those who know blogs -- and after examining the evidence, I concur -- that this blog likely has a very rich future ahead of it. Not so much because of the impact that it's made in its own time, which has not been negligible by any means, but for what it represents (and will represent) as a great example of a blog in future media studies.

Like I said, I've examined the evidence as it was put before me, and, stifling a blush or two because I'm so very personally involved in the enterprise, I truly believe they're on to something.

What the evidence shows is that there's a real thinking person behind the blog. And that this thinking person has opened his mind to the world, reluctantly at times but still he has been very revealing. It's exactly these kinds of personal revelations -- thoughts, opinions, and descriptions of events -- that will be very useful, even valuable to the future researcher.

Just between you and me, my fellow folks of the present day, knowing this about the future might inhibit me as I continue to write. Because I hadn't really thought about the heritage aspect of it, and now I might be doubly watching my language, grammar, and opinions, to make sure I don't embarrass us when the future gets here, and let's say it's a distant future and we're all dead and gone.

Really, if you think of it, what makes western movies so violent? The people back in those far off days weren't giving a single thought to what their behavior would say about their generation. It's like they didn't consider we'd be sitting out here over 100 years later looking back. So they lived like a bunch of devils, shooting each other on Main Street, shooting up a bunch of saloons, and probably engaging in prostitution, those who provided the service and those who paid for it. They weren't concerned with what we would think.

When I think about the future, I think about people who are still to be born. It's going to happen, even though it seems bizarre from our point of view. What? We're going to turn the world over to a bunch of people who aren't even born yet? That sounds crazy! Because at this point, since they're not even here, it seems foolhardy to entrust them with anything. But if we look a little closer, and think it through, that's exactly what happened with us. In the past, we weren't here yet. So we were just as inexperienced. But then we were conceived and born, grew up, and bit by bit the future unfolded. Of course we didn't just take over one day, but it happened gradually.

Having said all that, it's still kind of wild to consider that there are very attractive women (or will be) who aren't even alive yet. And not to leave anyone out, there are very attractive men who also will be born. And of course there's folks like the rest of us, still to born, who will constitute the future generation(s) that we hear so much about. That's one of the reasons I personally conserve water, so it'll be there for them to use.

Now, let me just say a word to the researchers of tomorrow who are not yet born: I am happy (from my place in your past) to be the textbook blog that you all are studying. I hope that you see that I kept everything on the up and up. There are probably some very foulmouthed blogs from this present day that you've studied as well. One of the things you no doubt noticed about mine is that I don't allow anything "blue" to be posted. I'm interested in elevating the discourse, so that's something I insist on. If you are literally taking a class on early 21st century blogs, I hope my archives have survived intact. I have very little control over it, actually, because it's a thing that Google does. If they've gone out of business and changed hands between now and then, apparently they've transferred some or all of the files adequately for you to be reading this. Study hard, get a good job, and be a credit to your society. By then, I'm sure society will be very far advanced. So enjoy it as much as you can.

OK, back to the present day. What I said to the folks of the future, I would say to you as well. Be a credit to your society. Study hard, etc., and enjoy yourself as much as you can.

As to my blog, I'm going to try to put the whole "textbook blog" thing on the back burner and just be myself, as much as I can. Because when they start studying it in the future, I want them to have something to study that is genuine and not just something that's been written with a constant eye on the future.